The Justice Department has charged 50 people for their alleged roles in a massive bribery scam designed to let wealthy parents buy their children a spot at a number of top colleges, including Georgetown University, Yale University, Stanford University, the University of Texas, the University of Southern California and UCLA.
This goes beyond the usual ways in which wealthy families can buy their way into these schools–making massive donations and putting their name on buildings and the like–to straight-up cheating on entrance exams and getting their children recruited for teams they have no intention of playing on, sometimes with literally no experience in the sport they’re being recruited for.
The list of parents involved are mostly just super-rich regular people, but there are also a few super-rich famous people like Desperate Housewives & Sports Night’s Felicity Huffman and Full House‘s Lori Loughlin, both of whom are reportedly currently in federal custody. Oddly, Neither woman’s husbands are making headlines, despite the fact the William H. Macy was allegedly caught on tape conspiring to rig his daughter’s SAT scores.
William H. Macy being identified solely as Felicity Huffman’s husband in this college admissions scam story is… feminism? Misogyny?
— Louis Peitzman (@LouisPeitzman) March 12, 2019
According to the Washington Post, the scam, which the FBI is calling–and I promise I’m not making this up–Operation Varsity Blues–involved at least one college admissions advisor, William Singer, taking approximately $25 million dollars in bribes.
Some of it he allegedly gave to sports coaches to say students were on their team (as with Loughlin’s daughters) or standardized testing officials to help students cheat (like the Muffmans). According to the criminal complaint, that involved providing answers to students, correcting them afterwards, or having another student take the test altogether.
The sports workaround is … bizarre.
They photoshopped them kids into stock photos of people playing soccer. To get into USC. Ya boy is dying over here man.
— Dad (@fivefifths) March 12, 2019
They mocked up water polo pics after buying equipment on Amazon. pic.twitter.com/YPwzJe92m3
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) March 12, 2019
Singer is said to have funneled this money through the Key Worldwide Foundation, a fake charity he set up for the purpose of taking bribes. According to their tax filings, the Key Worldwide Foundation is designed to “provide education that would normally be unattainable to underprivileged students.” In reality, it allows ultra-privileged students with mediocre transcripts to purchase their college education–and in a way that’s tax deductible for the cheating parents.
yikes. https://t.co/ubOJ0IQxC7
— deray (@deray) March 12, 2019
Boston’s U.S. attorney, Andrew Lelling, told the Post, “These parents are a catalogue of wealth and privilege. This case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth combined with fraud. There can be no separate college admission system for the wealthy, and I’ll add there will not be a separate criminal justice system, either.”
But of course, there already is a separate college admission system for the wealthy. The most blatant example is legacy families making giant “donations,” which is just a socially acceptable form of bribery. Beyond that, though, wealthy families have far better access to so many forms of assistance that have been proven to increase kids’ chances of getting into a top school–things like private tutors or the ability to take an unpaid internship without worrying about finances. That these families had access to all of this and still decided to just do outright crimes is beyond upsetting.
ADMISSIONS OFFICE: ur child was not accepted to our college
FELICITY HUFFMAN: then i will have to do a crime
ADMISSIONS OFFICE: u can just donate some money & we’ll let em in
FELICITY HUFFMAN: a crime i shall do
ADMISSIONS OFFICE: just make a donation
FELICITY HUFFMAN: crime time— Bob Vulfov (@bobvulfov) March 12, 2019
It’s just a stunning look at the inequity of access to these opportunities.
I want the people who were up in arms about affirmative action in college admittance to keep that same energy for rich people who pay to get their kids into Ivy League schools.
These are the people who are ACTUALLY stealing your kid’s spot. https://t.co/L6qYvpNKcT
— Jenét Where are the girls and babies? Morrow (@JenetAllDay) March 12, 2019
The grossest part of this whole story might be the ways in which they reportedly exploited the disability accommodations process, set up for those with legitimate special test-taking needs. A CUNY professor explained on Twitter how that works:
When you take the SATs under standard conditions, you take it with a large group of other students. If you require special accommodations, it can be possible to arrange for a specific proctor.
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) March 12, 2019
In this case, Macy and Huffman got extended time on the SAT for their daughter, claiming disability, then used that accommodation as the lever to get the daughter to take the test alone, with a proctor they arranged.
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) March 12, 2019
That chosen proctor was affiliated with the admissions scammers, and either coached their daughter during the test or corrected her answers afterward to get her score up to the level they wanted.
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) March 12, 2019
One daughter’s school planned to have her take the SAT there, and the family and scammers conspired to move the test to the site where they could cheat. So even if the initial accommodation was legit, it was leveraged for gain.
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) March 12, 2019
These families used their wealth to buy space in universities that could potentially have gone to students who deserved that education, managed to make their crimes tax-deductible, and they exploited systems set up for students with disabilities in the process.
Honestly this story has everything:
– rich people in trouble
– proof you were right about Those Rich Kids at your college
– prosecution under the RICO Act
– a Balkan water polo coach
– a chance to yell about systemic inequality
– FULL HOUSE JOKESWHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR.
— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) March 12, 2019
(images: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
